The Spanish frigate F-102 ESPS Almirante Juan De Borbon arrived this morning in Istanbul. It was a cold, chilly morning with little sun and with much snow fall.

The frigate is doing a port visit here. She will stay in Istanbul, presumably until Monday and will later pass through Bosphorus and enter Black Sea. Her next port of call has not been disclosed but it will be either Varna or Constanta or maybe both.

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Russian landing ship Azov, last seen on 19th February 2016 making a northbound passage. Photo: Yörük Işık.

Turkish maritime news portal Deniz Haber Ajansı ran a story about the Russian naval exercise scheduled in the Black Sea. According to the news Russian Navy has to cancel at least the amphibious landing part of the exercise due to the fact that Ropucha class landing ships Azov and Yamal were unavailable due to malfunctions. The Turkish portal quotes Ukrainian as their source and I was not able to verify content of the story through other means. But there is no smoke without fire.

Yamal made 3 Syrian deployments in this year and she was last seen on 22th February 2016 sailing north. Whereas Azov made only 2 Syrian deployments in 2016 and she was last seen sailing north on 19th February 2016. So both of them were absent for the last 68 days. This is a long pause suggesting that there actually might be some problems with these ships.

The arduous Syrian Express deployments seems to be taking toll on the auxiliary cargo ships of the Russian Navy as well. According to 7 Feet Beneath the Keel blog half of them are in non-operational status:

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The cargo on deck of Nikolay Filchenkov. Photo: Alper Böler. Used with permission.

The cargo on deck of Nikolay Filchenkov. Photo: Alper Böler. Used with permission.

The cargo on deck of Nikolay Filchenkov. Photo: Alper Böler. Used with permission.

Nikolay Filchenkov made her second southbound passage in 20 days. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

Nikolay Filchenkov making her southbound passage. Note that she is heavier at aft. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

On 10 September 2015 the Russian Alligator class large landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov made another south bound passage through Turkish Straits. This is her second passage to the Mediterranean in 20 days. This was a faster turn around than usual.

Like her last passage she had cargo on her deck again. Apart from one 6 meter green shipping container and one small utility boat all cargo on deck was hidden under camouflage nets. It is difficult to guess the hidden cargo on deck but it does not look like a land vehicle (to me at least).

Between 20 August 2015 and 10 September 2015, 4 Ropucha class large landing ships and 1 Alligator class landing ship made their south bound passages through Turkish Straits in addition to The Nikolay Filchenkov’s two passages.

A composite image of the cargo on board of Saratov. Photos: Alper Böler. Used with permission.

A starboard view of Saratov. Photo: Zeynep Bozkurt. Used with permission.

The cargo on the starboard side. Photo: Zeynep Bozkurt. Used with permission.

Another view of the cargo on board of Saratov. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

Note the crates under the life rafts. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

The Russian presence in Syria is growing so is the frequency of Russian warships carrying equipment and supplies to the region has increased too.

On 7 September 2015, the Alligator class landing ship Saratov sister of Nikolay Filchenkov made her southbound passage to the Mediterranean.

Like the much discussed passage of Nikolay Filchenkov, the deck of Saratov was loaded with equipment. Since vehicles were under camouflage nets, it is not easy to tell what the ship was exactly carrying. But the profile of the cargo on her bow resembles very much KamAZ-4350 trucks. There are at least 2 on the starboard side and one at the port side.

The remaining vehicles seem to have a lower profile than the trucks. Some of the have two “horns” like the air intakes you can see on BTR-82A armored personal carriers. Thus I believe that Saratov was carrying at least 5 APC’s of this type yesterday.

Since I am not an expert on army vehicles any additions, updates or corrections are welcomed.

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Alligator class landing ship Saratov made a southbound passage through Istanbul with concealed cargo on her deck. Photo: Alper Böler. Used with permission.

The training ship of the Baltic Fleet 210 Smoly left the Black Sea region on 4 September 2015.

Ropucha class Korolev making her south bound passage. Note the cargo on her forecastle between the gun and the rocket launcher. This is highly unorthodox.

Ropucha class Novocharkassk making her southbound passage through Istanbul. She does not have any cargo on her deck.

Ropucha class Korolev seen from the other side during her passage Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

Novocharkassk seen from the other side during her passage Photo: Kerim Bozkurt. Used with permission.

The detail of the cargo on deck Korolev. Photo: Kerim Bozkurt. Used with permission.

With the increased Russian presence on the ground in Syria the frequency of Russian warships carrying equipment and supplies to the region has increased too.

We have witnesses southbound passages of 3 Russian landing ships: one Alligator and two Ropucha during the last week. The training ship Smoly also left the Black Sea region and headed back to the Baltic.

On 3 September 2015 two Ropucha class large landing ship of Russian Navy made their southbound passage through Bosphorus.

Their passage would not be remarkable if one of the ships had cargo stored on her forecastle. The landing ship Korolev is assigned to the Baltic Fleet. But since July the ship is going back and forth between the Black Sea and Mediterranean.

The Ropucha class ships have a through tank deck which means a tank can roll on front the end of the ship and roll off at from the aft of the ship. Many Ropucha class warships passed through the Turkish Straits but their cargo was always inside the ship.

The cargo stored on the forecastle of Korolev was a first. The cargo was stored between the gun and the rocket launchers. It was covered by camouflage nets. The cargo seems to be large crates probably from wood and it does not appear to be a kind of vehicle like the trucks and the armored personal carriers on Nikolay Filchenkov.

The destination of these ships are not declared but it is believed to be Syria. The Russian support to Syria has intensified since last and much discussed deployment of Nikolay Filchenkov on 20 August 2015. Since that day, 4 Ropucha class landing ships have been dispatched to the region: Azov and Tsezar Kunikov on 26 August followed by Korolev and Novocharkassk on 3 September.

Samum during her passage through Istanbul. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

The tug Shakter making her north bound passage through Bosphorus. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used wtih permission.

On 30 August 2015 the tug Shaktar and the corvette Samum returned from their Mediterranean deployment while the Baltic Fleet tug SB-921 Paradox exited from the Black Sea. She towed the corvette R-32 to the Black Sea 11 days ago.

On 28 August 2015, US Navy destroyer USS Donald Cook made her second Black Sea deployment this year. Her destination was Ukraine where she will take part in the Sea Breeze 2015 naval exercise.

The possible destination of Epron is the Spanish enclave Ceuta, where the submarine Novorossiysk is

On the same day Prut class submarine salvage ship of the Black Sea Fleet, Epron passed through Bosphorus. She is going to the Mediterranean to meet and escort the submarine Novorossiysk.

The bow view of Azov. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

Azov deploying to the Mediterranean. Photo: Yörük ışık. Used with permission.

Tsezar Kunikov. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

On 26 August 2015 the Ropucha class landing ships Azov and Tsezar Kunikov made their southbound passage. As the design of the ships is not suitable to carry any cargo on deck, their cargo remained hidden inside.

On 25 August 2015 the Baltic Fleet training ship 210 Smolny made her northbound passage through Turkish Straits with 300 trainees on board. Most of them were on deck when the ship passed through Istanbul.

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Russian Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov making a south bound passage through Istanbul. Her destination is not known to us. Photo: Shonquis Moreno. Used with permission.

The cargo on deck. Photo: Shonquis Moreno. Used with permission.

On 20 August 2015 the Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov made one of her passages through Istanbul. The event was not worth of remembering if there was no cargo on deck of the ship.

During their previous passages Russian landing ships never had cargo on their top deck. Thus it is worth to look closer what Nikolay Filchenkov was carrying since we have new photos from Ms. Eser Çelebiler’s blog:

This is the approximate locations of the cargo on deck.

The help of the new photos we can say that there are 4 KamAZ-4350 6×6 and one GAZ-66 trucks plus 4 BTR type armored personnel carriers. The other items hidden under the tarpaulin arouse the suspension most.

Any additional information or suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks to Yörük Işık and Arda Mevlütoğlu for helping me identifying the trucks and correcting my mistake in identifying the ship.

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Alligator class landing Russian ship Nikolay Filchenkov making a south bound passage through Istanbul. Her destination is not known to us. Photo: Shonquis Moreno. Used with permission.

The cargo on deck. Photo: Shonquis Moreno. Used with permission.

On August 20, 2015 Alligator class landing the ship Nikolay Filchenkov made ​​one of her passages through Istanbul. The event was not worth of remembering if there was no cargo on deck of the ship.

During their previous passages Russian landing ships never had cargo on their top deck. It is worth Thus to look closer what Nikolay Filchenkov was carrying:

There are at least 4 KamAZ-4350 (4×4 or 6×6 either but definitely not 8×8) and one GAZ-66 trucks plus 2 or 3 things under tarpaulin. Of course those things hidden under the tarpaulin arouse the suspension most. Their height is less compared to the trucks suggesting that they could be a launcher. In that case this could be one of two batteries of some kind.

Any additional information or suggestions are welcomed.

To Thanks Yörük Işık and Arda Mevlütoğlu for helping me identifying the trucks and correcting my mistake in identifying the ship.

Ropucha class large landing ship Tsezar Kunikov making her northbound passage through Istanbul.

Ropucha class large landing ship Azov making her northbound passage through Istanbul.

The flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, Slava class cruiser Mosvka returning from her deployment in the Mediterranean. Photo: Kerim Bozkurt. Used with permission.

Slava class cruiser Mosvka returning from her deployment in the Mediterranean. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

This week we have witnessed the return of the Russian warships which took part in the joint Russian – Egyptian naval exercise.

First the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet the Slava class cruiser Moskva returned from her 76 day deployment in the Mediterranean. Two day later the Nanuchka class corvette Mizrah passed through the Turkish Straits northbound.

These ships were followed by the tug Paradox towing the Tarantul class corvette R-32. The R-32 made headlines when Russia handed her over to the Egyptian Navy on 10 August 2015.

The ships of the Syrian Express deployment are also seen passing through Turkish Straits.